Sheryl Sculley gets a pay boost

By Josh Baugh :
December 5, 2013
: Updated: December 5, 2013 4:57pm

SAN ANTONIO — The City Council on Thursday approved a two-year contract extension for City Manager Sheryl Sculley that includes salary increases in 2014 and 2015 as well as one-time bonuses in both years.

Sculley's base salary has been static at $355,000 for the past four years. In 2014, it will increase to $375,000 and $400,000 in '15. Next month, she will receive a $50,000 bonus. In January 2015, she will receive a one-time bonus of $65,000.

The council also approved the request to permanently close a block of South Main at around 1:30 p.m. Traffic improvements are expected to take six to nine months and construction will begin after. It's projected to take up to a year to complete the downtown store.

As Thursday's meeting opened, Mayor Julián Castro remained about 250 miles north of town, stalled in Dallas by a delayed flight, which in turn pushed back a vote on H-E-B's proposed closing of Main Avenue.

Castro arrived shortly after 11 a.m. and joined the council on the dais after an executive session.

He traveled Wednesday to Mexico City as a guest of the Spurs, who were slated to play an official NBA season game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

A fire broke out in the arena before tipoff that led to a cancellation of the game. Castro flew back to Texas with the team on their chartered flight, which ended up in Dallas overnight.

The council temporarily delayed its vote on shuttering Main Avenue by H-E-B headquarters in the King William neighborhood until he arrived.

King William residents who attended the meeting to oppose the Main closure and proposed gas station said the delay was “typical” and complained that they couldn't spend “all day” waiting for Castro to arrive because “some of us have jobs.”

At their second-to-the-last meeting of 2013, City Council members are facing a hefty agenda Thursday, including action on land swaps in Hemisfair, and a proposed ban on sex offenders at city parks.

The 17-page agenda comprises 70 items, including the appointment of Robbie Greenblum as City Attorney. Greenblum, Castro's longtime chief of staff, will take over for Michael Bernard, who is returning to private practice after a lengthy tenure as a public servant.

The council will consider a land swap in the Hemisfair neighborhood, made possible by a law passed earlier this year in the Texas Legislature. Hemisfair officials are breaking up the original HemisFair Park, much of which is covered by the Convention Center, and designating new land for future park space. The swap means that parkland in Hemisfair will grow by about four acres.